


The Life and Times of Jack and Katherine

by Sugartush



Category: Newsies, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken
Genre: F/M, Humor, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-30
Updated: 2015-03-30
Packaged: 2018-03-20 13:24:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,495
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3651969
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sugartush/pseuds/Sugartush
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>numerous one shots looking in on the lives of Jack and Katherine and their get up with the Newsies of New York.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Interrupted

**Author's Note:**

> The same story is posted on my fanfic account of the same name. More reviews the quicker I update;)- layla

I had this occur to me last night. I have no clue why I turned it into fiction. Second chapter will be up soon. ~layla

Life after the strike for Katherine and Jack had been wild. They were constantly in one another's company whether it be them hanging around the Lodge house with the other newsies, spending long nights at Katherine's apartment or just walking the other back and from work everyday.

That morning Jack and Katherine were sitting on the fire escape of the lodge house, drinking coffees and eating bagels they had bought early from the deli.

"Gi me a bigh of ya bagel." Jack said to her, already trying to wolf down his own food.

Katherine giggled but kept her own pumpkin bagel to herself. "You got your own. I'm hungry." She shuffled herself over so she sat between Jack's legs, motioning for him to put his arms around her. "What kind did you get anyway?"

"Blueberry. But it's too sweet." He replied after setting his coffee and food down on the step next to them, so he could link his arms around her middle.

"I swear we had this conversation about sharing bagels a week ago Jack."

"Yeah but I forget every time we order." Katherine laughed at him and rolled her head back to kiss his jaw. Only he would forget.

They finished their food and coffees just as the sun was rearing its blaring gold head. Jack and Katherine made sure to get up earlier in the mornings so they could get the privacy of the fire escape without the racket of the other newsies to interrupt them.

"You know it won't be until six thirty that the boys get up." Jack murmured into Katherine's ear just as she was about to get up.

She snorted. "Jack Kelly, are you suggesting that we get it on on a 12 story building fire escape?"

"Well we could do it inside on my bunk..." He murmured smugly. "But the walls inside are like paper and I don't know how Crutchie's gonna like being woken up on the top bunk by your loud ass moaning."

"I do not moan loudly!" She laughed and whacked him playfully on the leg.

"You do too. And I love it."

Jack began kissing her neck softly, traveling his way up to her jawline. He grabbed hold of her hips and spun her around so that he had better access to her mouth, which he proceeded to kiss. Katherine tried pulling herself away, giggling every time , but when she tried to voice her worries that someone would catch them, Jack shut her up with his lips again. After the third time she gave up and pressed her self into him forcefully.

After taking off her cardigan, Jack's rough hands found their way down her camisole, the magenta silk catching on his callouses. He reached the hem and pulled it off her gently, discarding it on the step above them. Her chest now only clad in her brassiere tingled with goosebumps. This side of the building was like a wind tunnel sometimes. But she became warmer as Jack moved his mouth to her sternum, his fingers prying at the piece of clothing getting between him and her breasts. Like the other garments, it was thrown on the step.

"Mm." Katherine slipped out as she felt him take one of her breasts. Jacks hand moved on to caress the other, producing even more whimpers from Katherine.

She had to admit, as reluctant she was to begin with, she was glad she went with it. Jack usually had that effect on her. But now Katherine had grown tired of his monotonous action and started to unbutton both Jack's vest and Shirt, donating to their growing pile of clothing. Jack helped to slip off her skirt, another generous donation. Soon she was only in her panties and sitting on his legs.

Their lips reunited and Katherine kicked off her heels before working on the zipper to his pants. She didn't take them off to save time, but took him in her hands and stroked his length. He sighed and closed his eyes, positioning himself while she pushed the lace of her panties aside to accommodate him.

"God Jack." Katherine marvelled, feeling him ease into her. It always amazed her how he knew how to make her feel so good.

He put his palms on her waist and lifted her, guiding her to take the lead.

Katherine did so, locking her fingers at the nape of neck and biting her lip as she lifted herself up and down into a steady rhythm.

"Jesus," Jack breathed "you're killing me Katherine."

Katherine said nothing but rested her forehead against his and placed a soft kiss on his mouth.

Katherine and Jack were to the point of groaning as they continued to move together, close to their peaks.

They would have finished there and then if the door to the building hadn't swung open, and Jack hadn't pulled his mouth from Katherine's so quickly that he almost knocked out her front tooth.

"Jack, Kathy! David's taking us on a bagel run. He wants to know if you-"

Les Jacobs stood there looking more terrified than if a hundred spiders had crawled into his pants. He hadn't looked at the two until then and the sight of a very naked Katherine straddling an equally very naked Jack stopped him in his words.

"Les!" Katherine squeaked, attempting to cover her chest. Thank god that they hadn't gotten rid of their pants and underwear, otherwise the whole situation would have been a lot worse.

The boy didn't need to be told, he bolted back inside, his palms in the air like he was surrendering.

"Oh my god." Katherine hissed "We just plagued the baby's head!"

"Shit." Jack agreed.

"Should we go talk to him?"

"What, like this babe? I don't think that's gonna help the ordeal anymore."

Katherine smacked him on the back off his head. "This is serious Jack! The poor thing probably won't be able to look at us straight again."

"Sorry. Let's get dressed and then hunt him down."

After quickly chucking each others garments at one another, they redressed, attempted to smooth down their atrocious sex hair and went back inside to find Les.

If there was ever a time that Jack wished he could have controlled his raging teenage hormones it would have been on that fire escape. Now Les had ran off and Katherine was worried sick about how He would never talk to her again. He had driven himself into trouble yet once again due to his stupid libido.   
"Would he still be at the lodge house?" Katherine asked, her eyebrows knitted together with worry.  
Jack nodded his head. "He's selling papes today and it's too early to start. Maybe he's with Davey in me and Crutchie's room."   
Unlike the other boys, Crutchie and Jack took up residence in the small attic room of the lodge. It used to be a filing room for a company that previously owned the building, but Jack cleared up the cabinets and moved their bunk in so Crutchie had a little more space for his leg when it acted up.   
Jack and Katherine knocked on the door, which wasn't even necessary as Crutchie kept it a little ajar at all times.   
"Yeah?" The blonde boy called from the bottom bunk, tying his shoe.   
Davey was also in the room, sitting next to Crutchie's good leg on the floor and resting his crutch on his knees.   
"Oh hey, Davey," Jack started "just the guy we wanted to see. Where's your little brother?"  
"I dunno, he went to his bunk I think after we got breakfast. He was acting real quiet though."  
"Ah, shit."   
Katherine stepped in to rescue the boys confused faces. "We had a little mishap this morning. We just wanted to check if he's ok."  
Crutchie's scrunched his face. "Mishap?"  
"We, uh." Jack tried, but couldn't get the words out. His eyes darted to Katherine for help. She look just as hopeless and nudged him in the rib to spit it out. "Well ya see, Ace and I thought we were alone on the fire escape this morning and uh, well you know what I'm leading to. But your little brother Davey, he ah, kinda walked in on us while we were at it."  
"Jesus." Crutchie chuckled. "That was wild from start to finish."  
Davey beside him wasn't as amused as he rubbed his temple. "He's innocent Jack. You probably scared him out of girls for the rest of his life."  
"It ain't like we meant to!" He protested. "How was I supposed to know Les would come through the door and see Katherine all topless on me, huh?"  
"Jack!" Katherine slapped him again in embarrassment that he was getting down to the gritty details in front of David and Crutchie.   
"Sorry Ace." He apologised. "Look we just gotta find find Les and see if he's not too shaken up. Do you know where he is?"  
Crutchie had to regain his composure for he had fallen into the mattress in stitches after Jack's brief description of Katherine on top of him. "I think he was with Race and Specs, playing go fish or something in their bunk."  
Katherine and Jack were about to turn to go when Crutchie grabbed Katherine's wrist. "Just tell me though, was Jack worth getting caught for?"  
Katherine rolled her eyes and shook her head in shame looking at Crutchie's Cheshire grin. "Maybe when we find out whether or not Les needs therapy I'll let you know Crutch." 

Jack and Katherine finally left and were climbing down the staircase when they almost crashed into Romeo. He scratched the back of his head and raised the corner of his mouth into a smile. "Jack! Kathy!" He exclaimed.  
Jack ruffled his scruffy black hair and smiled back. "Mornin' kid. You been up long?"  
Romeo snorted. "No but you two have."  
Jack was confused. "I don't get it."  
Katherine raised her eyebrow as the boy in front of them sniggered to himself like he was relishing the punchline of a joke. However, Katherine and Jack didn't know that the joke was them. "Rumour is, is that Les caught you two in the act." He said.   
Jack planted his face into his palms and groaned, Katherine sighing heavily.   
Romeo laughed. "Oh it's true? I thought the kid was making that shit up!"  
"How many know, Romeo?" Katherine asked wearily.  
"Oh like eighty or so."  
Jack suddenly raised his voice. "Romeo there's only about fifty of us in the lodge house!"  
"I wasn't just talking about the lodge house!" He chuckled. "Mush said he heard Spot Conlan and his boys on the bridge laughing about it an hour or so ago."  
This was the last straw for Jack. He respected Spot, but he wasn't so sure that Spot was going to respect him anymore after this. "Spot? Aw Ace babe, why didn't you stop us?"   
"Jack I think you're forgetting my various warnings telling you that we were going to get caught!" Katherine retorted.   
"Sorry, I just got to caught up with it all."   
Romeo looked at the two arguing and held back laughter. "I'm gonna leave you two love birds to it." He continued to walk up the stairs and Jack and Katherine were left to confront Les in the lower dorm. 

The lower dorm could be described simply as crowded. Cheaply painted bunk beds were aligned wherever their was a free space and when they weren't selling papers, the newsies spent their time causing ruckus amongst each other.   
They spotted Les sitting cross legged on Race's bunk whispering the values of Specs' hand who sat across on the hard mattress. They seemed to be playing Poker with one another.   
Specs looked up from his glasses, as he saw Jack and Katherine stride over and smirked. "Need some help Jackie boy?" He said.  
Race grinned too, obviously aware as well of the Fire Escape showdown. He threw down his hand of cards and rested his chin on his fist. "I think he and his lady wanna talk to Les, Specs."   
Specs laughed and pushed the younger boy on his feet. "Go on kid, I'll play your turn for ya."   
Katherine took Les' hand and they walked with Jack to the balcony just outside. It was cut off to the dorm with a set of frail steel bars and a thick layer of scratched glass. They were gonna appreciate that barrier the moment they stepped out there. 

"I'm sorry I interrupted you guys." Les said quietly.   
Katherine's jaw dropped and she took Les' hands in her own, getting on her knees to be on his level. "Les! It wasn't your fault sweetheart."  
"Yeah, you didn't know buddy." Added Jack, who had sat himself next to them on the concrete. "It was me and Katherine's fault."  
Les was quiet. He didn't really know what to say, so he listened to Jack and Katherine apologise profusely.   
"We were stupid and were ignorant and naive and-" Katherine rambled, but Jack stopped her mid sentence.   
"Ace, I think the kid gets it." He laughed. Les raised a small smile and stared at the two in front of him, their eyes glinting in hope that he'd say something. So he laughed. Les laughed harder than he ever had before. Even more than the time when Davey had tried to make dinner for their family but ended up in the ER when he got his arm stuck in the oven door. Even more than the time the Newsies boys helped Jack get dressed for a dinner date with Katherine and ended up in a suit and enough cologne to make his sinuses act up. And even more than the time when Medda Larkin had used her stage makeup to convince customers that Les had Jaundice so they'd feel bad and come see her show. In Les' head, this was just another memorable moment that brought him in stitches. He honestly wasn't scarred by the whole ordeal.   
"What's so funny kid?" Jack marvelled.   
Les regained his composure and shot a half smile at him and Katherine. "You guys are acting like this is a huge deal that'll ruin me forever. I'm ten. Kids my age get over things quickly."  
Katherine sighed uneasily. "Well, ok. But if you ever wanna talk or ask-"  
"I'm good Katherine!" Les almost squawked, his hands up like he wanted to shove them over her lips. Jack and Katherine watched as he filed back into the dorms, relief flooding over them. The kid was going to survive.   
They remained on the concrete after Les left, Katherine lacing her hands with Jack's. "Hallelujah, huh?" She giggled.   
He rubbed his forehead and let out a single laugh. "We're lucky we ain't have to assign him to Bedlam, Ace."   
Katherine rested her head on his shoulder and smiled when kissed her hair. "You're very maternal y'know." He mumbled.  
"You think?"  
"Just the way you handle things. I ain't ever seen you shy away when the boys and I need help." A small smile danced on his mouth. "You'd be good with kids."  
"I've always wanted them. I guess I just pushed the thought aside. My mother always wanted me to be a domestic wife when I married and got angry when I told her I wanted to be a reporter. I didn't really want to give her any satisfaction by letting her know I did really want children."  
"I think it's safe to say you won't be slaving over your husband Katherine. Sure, having a family and keeping your career, but Miss Domestic? I don't buy it."  
Katherine grinned. "Tell that to Marie Pulitzer, my own mommy dearest."  
"I'll pass on that one."  
"No seriously, she wants us over for dinner on Sunday. Says she wants to meet the famous Jack Kelly, the Strike leader who swept her daughter off her feet."  
Jack just shook his head. "Sorry Ace, Jack Kelly doesn't meet parents. It's gonna be a no go I'm afraid. But hey, maybe Crutchie will go with you."  
"I'm not taking Crutchie to meet my parents Jack!" She laughed. "And you'd do it for me. Please?"   
Jack wanted to say no. But It was those big chocolatey doe eyes he couldn't resist. He frowned at her, "Fine, for you only. I still don't see why I have to. I work for your father, I know him."  
"Yeah, but mama and papa Pulitzer come as a package. You don't get one spitting demon without the other."  
Jack chuckled loudly and pulled Katherine into an embrace over his chest. Perhaps meeting her parents wouldn't be so awful with the thought that Katherine would be their to humour him when he needed it. But then again, this was meet the parents with none other than the Pulitzers. Jack had no idea what he was in for.


	2. Meet the Parents

Katherine scowled at Jack for what had to be the eighteenth time that evening. Getting Jack into decent clothes was harder than she initially thought.  
"Jack!" She gritted through her teeth, attempting to loop his tie around his neck. "Cooperate with me!"  
He craned his neck away and made a face. "Ace, quit it!"   
"I'll quit it when you look presentable Jack Kelly!"   
Jack wasn't surprised that Katherine was acting like this. It was Sunday evening, and the Pulitzers had requested for Katherine to bring Jack home for dinner. And of course Katherine wasn't going to take him home to meet her folks in his regular Newsboy attire.   
"It's not even that tight," she murmured, pulling the knot in at his neck. "And it's only for a few hours."  
Jack looked for sympathy in Katherine's eyes, but she only giggled and kissed him in return.   
"Hey, where you going?" He asked as she turned to stride into the bathroom.   
"To shower. I need to get ready too." Jack opened his mouth, looking hopeful, but Katherine raised her hand and continued, "And no, Jack, you can't shower with me."

Katherine came out of the bathroom later, hair brushed and pinned neatly, makeup done, adorned in nothing but a towel. Jack, fully clothed, was more than upset.   
"Katherine!" Jack protested as he watched her walk to her set of drawers to pull out a dress. "You're doing that on purpose."  
She shrugged her shoulders and smiled smugly when she dropped her towel to the floor. She felt Jack's looming gaze on her when she slipped on her undergarments. Stepping into her dress, Katherine glanced backwards at Jack and motioned for him to come do up the back for her.   
He exhaled heavily behind her and pulled up the zipper. "You're a damn tease, Ace, you know that?"  
She giggled softly and spun herself round to kiss him in response. At that moment, as happy as they were, they didn't think about how long the night ahead of them would be. And boy, would it be long. 

The Pulitzers resided in a large Neo classical mansion in the Upper East Side. It was refined yet still intimidating as Jack looked up at it on the front steps. Katherine rolled her eyes and rapped the brass door knocker. She'd grown up in this house, it had provided shelter for her since she left home into the apartment her father bought her. But it still felt as cold and unwelcome as when she was a little girl.   
Katherine took Jack's hand in her own and squeezed a small pulse. "Relax."  
He snorted, for he had caught her in her reverie. "Right back at ya Plumber."  
She wanted to tell him otherwise but footsteps shuffled behind the door and it was open by none other than her mother.   
Marie Pulitzer could be described as beautiful. Although in her age, she still retained her pale golden hair and smooth skin Katherine remembered when she was small. And as Jack looked at the woman he immediately recognised Katherine. Their features were almost identical, from the warm chocolate eyes right down to the ski jumps in their noses.   
"Katherine," Marie smiled, her tone cool. "It's been a while since we've had you back home."  
"I've been busy mama." Katherine hugged her mother briefly and then shyly tucked a stray tendril of hair behind her ear. "Mama, this is Jack Kelly. I know you've been wanting to meet him."  
Jack offered a small smile and extended his hand. "Pleasure to meet ya, Mrs. Pulitzer."  
Katherine peered over her mother's shoulder as she shook hands with Jack and saw that her younger sisters had also come to the main hall. They were probably curious to get a look at Jack, and find out what made their sister think he was so special.   
Marie noticed them too. "Maggie, Georgia, Connie. Come greet your sister and her friend."  
The three girls looked more than thrilled to see Katherine.   
"Kathy!" Exclaimed Connie, the youngest of the Pulitzer girls. Jack noticed she definitely took more after Joseph Pulitzer but her hair was still blonde like Marie. She couldn't have been more than six.   
"Connie, slow down." Katherine chuckled, picking her up in her arms.   
"It's been a while Kathy," spoke Georgia, who glanced smugly at Maggie next to her. "We didn't think you were coming home. Maybe you became too busy with a certain newsb-" Katherine shot her a glare and Georgia got the message to hold her tongue.   
Unlike Maggie and Connie, Georgia and Katherine shared the same chocolatey hair inherited from their fathers side. To Jack though, they could all pass as the same person, blonde or brunette.   
Maggie, the middle of three younger girls, sighed and shot her elder sister a smile. "We missed you Kathy."  
Marie shook her head at her daughters and beckoned them all inside. "Come in, it's cold. And I think you're all overwhelming Mr. Kelly."   
It was true, Jack had never been with so many women in his life.   
They were lead into the living room of the house, where the large sandstone fire place crackled with flames. Sitting on the large Chesterfield in the middle of the room was none other than Joseph Pulitzer and a young man Jack suspected to be Katherine's elder brother.   
"Joseph darling, your daughter's home." Marie announced, "and she's brought her friend too."  
Joseph turned from conversing with his son to Katherine and Jack.  
"Daddy." Katherine smiled and hugged her father. Although the strike had complicated things between the two, they were still family, and they both were happy to let it go for the sake of it.   
Joseph cleared his throat and extended his hand. "Jack."  
He shook it firmly. "Mr. Pulitzer." Jack didn't know what else to say, he never thought he'd be stuck with his Boss, trying to convince him he   
was a suitable partner for his daughter. Then again he had never planned on dating his boss's daughter either.   
Katherine broke the silence with an audible inhale, smiling sweetly. "Jack, this is my brother Michael. He works with me as an editor at the Sun."  
They both acknowledged one another, then sat down with the rest of the Pulitzers.   
"So how did you two meet?" Georgia asked them, her chin resting on her fists.   
Katherine laughed. "He tried to sell me a paper, but I turned him down. Then we met again when I interviewed the newsboys for my article."  
Marie raised an eyebrow, sharing a glance with her husband. It was clear that she was just as curious about Jack as her younger daughters. "Do you find it easy selling papers, Jack?"  
"It comes easy after a few years or so," Jack answered. "But, yeah, it's tough trying to make a few coins out there." It was like the room had become weighted. Joseph darted his eyes to the floor, becoming disinterested in the conversation. If it weren't for him, Jack and the other newsies would have been fine selling papers, not struggling to pay their next meal.   
"Do you have lots of friends where you live?" Connie asked, her big eyes beaming.  
He chuckled at the young girl. "Yeah, hundreds. You know there's heaps of kids about your age there, Connie?"  
Connie gasped, and climbed onto Katherine's lap. "Kathy, I want to sell newspapers!"   
Shock filled into both of Katherine's parents eyes. Jack Kelly had already taken one of their daughters, he wasn't about to take another. Marie took a shaky laugh. "Constance, how about we just focus on school at the moment?"   
Connie pouted and climbed down to the carpet to play with her doll house.   
Marie excused herself to go check on dinner, leaving the rest of her family to quiz Jack even more than they already had.   
Maggie was in the middle of asking Katherine how apartment life was when Meg, the Pulitzer's house maid, trotted in with Marie.  
"Dinner's ready Mr. Pulitzer," she announced. "Moira and me just set the dining room table if you, Michael and the girls wanted to take a seat."  
"Meg, didn't I remind you we were catering for an extra?" Marie motioned towards Jack.  
"Oh, yes Miss. Don't worry, Moira and me remembered." With that she filed back into the kitchen, and Marie led her Jack family into the dining room.   
"Hey Jack!" Connie hissed from her seat, which was far too big for her. "Wanna sit next to me?"  
"Sure thing kiddo." He sat between her and Katherine, opposing her siblings on the other side of the cherry stained table. Joseph and Marie sat at the ends, which intensified their threatening personas even more.   
While they are their food, no one really said anything, and Jack wondered if it was like this all the time; nothing but the looming sound of silverware against porcelain. However Maggie broke the silence, raving on about her newest suitor.  
"Mama, did I tell you?" Maggie grinned. "Peter Weller asked me to Brunch on Tuesday."  
"You know I don't like his mother, Maggie."  
"But mama, his mother gave him three grand to spend on automobiles. Do you know what he could buy me if he sold those automobiles? Diamonds."  
"There's more to life than diamonds, Maggie." Michael chuckled at her, offering Jack a bread roll from the basket. Jack mouthed a thank you and tore it in half to share with Katherine.   
"But I mean, Michael, what if you proposed to that girl your courting? What's her name?" Maggie continued.   
"Sophie."  
" Yes, Sophie. What if you proposed to Sophie with a diamond ring and she said yes. You'd get married, buy a big house, have lots of babies and grow old together. Without that diamond ring you'd never do any of that, so no there isn't really much more to life than diamonds."  
"That's not so true," Jack said. He had caught the attention of the whole table, even Connie stared at him, for she knew never to argue with Maggie's materialism. "Ya see, my Ma, she was Irish. She came to New York when she was young and met my pa. My pa was barely making ten cents an hour working on construction sites, when he asked her to be his wife. He ain't give her no ring. It was only until they moved into an apartment a year later, married at a shabby ministry, and just had me did she get her ring. My pa worked till he could afford something decent, and still without some ring he made my Ma happy."  
Katherine smiled, her eyes glinting. "That's sweet."  
Joseph dabbed his mouth a napkin, obviously not moved by Jack's story. "And where are your parents now?"  
"Father!" Katherine scowled.   
"Oh, uh, my Ma passed from typhoid when I was eight, and my pa took off after that."  
"And what makes you think you wouldn't take off one day if you were married to my daughter?"  
Katherine was fuming, the conversation once calm had taken a different turn, all thanks to her father.   
Jack set his cutlery down roughly. "'Cause I love ya daughter, Mr. Pulitzer. I couldn't survive a day knowing that I wouldn't be able see her."  
"Do you know how many young men have claimed to love my daughter, Jack?" He almost shouted. "And all of them offering nothing but hopes of getting a steal of my money!"  
"Joseph, please!" Marie slammed her fist down, stopping him from going on. As much as she wasn't fond of Jack, she wouldn't let her husband start an argument with him in her dining room.   
Katherine clenched her jaw, trying not to cry. She knew that this dinner wasn't going to go down well. "Mother, I think Jack and I are going to go home now." She said.  
" Katherine, please." Her mother protested, while Katherine stood and took Jack's arm.  
"Mother, please just drop it." Katherine grabbed their coats and headed out to the front door.   
In the cab home though, she couldn't forget the picture of her father sitting at the table like nothing happened. It was like he didn't have the stamina to care any more. 

Jack walked her to her apartment door later, bending down to kiss her hair.   
"Please stay Jack." She whispered.  
"Katherine, I gotta work tomorrow-"   
"Please?"  
He sighed, then smiled. "Okay."  
She lead him into her kitchen, where she proceeded to brew him a mug of coffee. Although she didn't care much for it, she kept a bag of grinds in her pantry for when ever Jack visited, for he seemed to like the bitterness in it.   
"I'm sorry about tonight," she murmured, handing him the mug. She sat down next to him at the small kitchen table, her head in her hands. "I thought they were going to behave."  
"Ace, you didn't do anything. Your dad and I have a grudge. It was bound to happen somewhere along the lines." He took her hand from her face and kissed her knuckles. Katherine didn't react, but only tucked her head in the crook of his neck and linked her arms around him for comfort. Jack shifted her over so she was on his lap and kissed her head as she cried into his shirt.  
"Hey, kid." He said softly. "Let's go to bed. The boys'll manage tonight without me."  
"I only wanted you to stay for a little bit."she sniffled through the fabric of his shirt. "Plus you said you had to work."  
"I'll get Crutch and Davey to do my rounds." Katherine nodded slightly, and Jack hoisted her up like a child, carrying her to the bedroom.

She curled on her side on her bed, after changing into a silk chemise. Jack was closing her curtains when he heard a soft almost inaudible giggle come from her lips.  
"What?" He raised a brow, while undoing his tie and slipping off his shirt. He pulled on a pair pants he had left from a previous visit and joined Katherine under the covers.   
"Nothing," she smiled. "I was just remembering the last time I took a boy home to meet my parents."  
Jack suddenly became curious. "Who?"  
"Just Darcy. And they really only wanted him to come over to see if he could work for my father at the World. And Connie had found this poodle puppy on the street that afternoon, which was filthy and tracked mud through the whole house." She had to pause to laugh. "And, this dog, Snowball, well we had to hide her from my father because he was furious and said that he'd sell it to the sausage factory of he ever saw it again. So Darcy hid it in his jacket and throughout dinner we kept hearing these yaps from Darcy as he kept feeding it. Needless to say that dog is still alive and breathing at Darcy's apartment."  
Jack chuckled. "Y'see Ace, that got ya smiling."  
She rolled over to kiss him softly. "Thank you. I needed to laugh."  
"The pleasure is mine, Ace."  
Just as Katherine reached over to switch off her lamp, Jack clasped her arm. "Wait, Katherine."  
"Hm?"   
"I, ah, wanted to talk about tonight."  
Katherine raised an eyebrow. "What about tonight?"  
"Well, when your dad was going off about me taking off on you if we were married, it got me thinking."   
He sat up and leaned over to his pants on the floor, where he grabbed a paper parcel, tied neatly with gold string. "Katherine Elizabeth Pulitzer," he began, his eyes locked on her own. "I love you so much, and I know you know that. I know you know that I would never take off or hurt you. I wanna wake up to your face everyday just like those mornings where I've stayed too late and we gotta explain to the boys why I was late to work.   
I ain't never gonna take off like my pa did to my ma. Kath," he paused breaking into a grin. "Please stop me from babbling and tell me you'll marry me."  
Katherine tore open the parcel and pulled out a small golden ring encrusted with three aligned diamonds. Where he got the money for this, Katherine had no idea. But then it dawned on her; it was his mother's.   
"Katherine?" Jack was getting worried with her lack of words. Did she not want this, had he been too soon? But Katherine was only silent for she was trying to hold back the tears.  
"Yes!" She nodded, wiping her cheeks. "Yes of course I will!"  
Jack beamed with her, and cupped her face in his palms. "Why are ya cryin' then, Ace?"  
"Because this is the worst proposal, you idiot! We just got home from fighting with my parents and we're in my God damn bed! Trust you Jack Kelly to spring this on me!"  
"But you'll still marry me right?"  
She crushed her lips down on his, still smiling. "Yes!" She said between kisses. "You're an idiot but yes!"  
He laughed with her and pushed the ring on her left finger, before pulling her down on the mattress, to, in his words, celebrate.


	3. Field Trip

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jack takes Katherine to Brooklyn.

Katherine should have been at home, finishing the article that was due in a week. But she was walking across Brooklyn Bridge, arm in arm with Jack Kelly.   
He had burst into her apartment that morning, beaming while he watched her do up the last buttons of her blouse.  
"Ace, we gotta go to Brooklyn today." He exclaimed kissing her good morning.   
She frowned, still smiling at his excitement. He was like a puppy. "No, I have an article on human trafficking. I'm staying home today."  
"But the boys and I were gonna go to the docks, cool off with Spot Conlon and his flock."  
The idea did seem tempting to Katherine. It was summer in New York, therefore sticky and hot and practically unbearable in her heavy skirts. But she had to finish to her article. "Jack, I wish I could-"  
"I'll help you finish it tonight," he offered. "We'll get dinner from that Italian place on 61st and make it a date."  
"That does sound nice." She smiled. She shook her head in disbelief, marvelling at the ways Jack had changed her from when they had first met. "Ok, just give me a minute to get changed."

Katherine hadn't ever been to Brooklyn, throughout her childhood her parents had warned her it was dangerous, not a place for a young lady to be loitering around in. But now she was older, and she was in the company of Jack, she was more than happy to see the place.   
They stepped onto the docks, where the Manhattan Newsies had already arrived before them. They mixed in with the scene of the Brooklyn boys, some already in the water, some sitting and talking with bottles of ale in their hands.   
"Hey Spot!" Jack called up to a look out deck. A boy not much younger than Jack, tanned with sterling eyes looked over the side. Katherine immediately recognised him as Spot Conlon, king of the Brooklyn Newsies.   
"Well if it ain't Jack Kelly in the flesh." He smiled climbing down to ruffle Jack's already unruly hair before tackling him in a hug. He then acknowledged Katherine beside Jack, taking her hand to kiss her knuckles. "Miss Katherine Pulitzer."  
"Hello Spot." She smiled. She was about to take her hand back, but Spot clasped it firmly, his eyes fixating on her sparkling engagement ring. "You's are gettin' hitched." He said softly.   
"Surprise." Jack chuckled.  
Spot let her hand go, a smile stretched across his face. "Congrats to you both. And I'll keep my mouth shut don't you worry."   
Relief warmed through out Jack and Katherine. They were going to tell everyone sooner or later, but preferably in their own means of time.   
Spot lead them over to where he and various other boys had set up their things on the edge of the docks. They recognised Specs, Race and Davey along with a few of the other Brooklyn boys gathered round in what seemed to be a poker game. However lying in the sun was a girl, her eyes covered by large cat eye sunglasses and dressed only in a white singlet and houndstooth patterned shorts lying on her back. She must have been asleep for she didn't say hello when the others did as Jack and Katherine sat down.   
Spot laughed at the girl, then leant over to tug on her blonde ponytail and kiss her forehead. "We's got company Ang, you can't sun bake forever."  
She frowned and took off her sunglasses, squinting from the sun as she shuffled up. "Ok, who's stayed and who's left since I fell asleep?"   
She did a quick headcount. "Race, Specs, Tasty, Dave, Sasquatch... And Jack, you weren't here before." Her eyes caught Katherine and she smiled slightly. "Jack, don't tell me Manhattan has a girl newsie too now."  
"Nah Angie, this is Katherine. She wrote our story back in the strike. She ain't no newsie."   
"Good. I ain't fond of competition." Angie paused before looking at Jack. "And she'd be some competition."  
Katherine managed to raise her lips in a half smile. She found Angie intimidating sure, but like every other Newsie, she knew that she meant well.   
They sat in the sun for almost an hour, dangling their legs in the water, lying on one another as pillows and generally talked. Katherine got to know Sasquatch and Tasty, the other boys in the group. Sasquatch was stocky built with hands almost three times the size of her own, however he was sweet in every word he said, not wanting to ever offend. Tasty on the other hand was scrawny, he said only a few sentences between eating from other's food scraps, and seemed to enjoy taking in the conversation and not participating. Katherine liked them both.  
She was lying down with her head in Jack's lap and her legs on Davey's own outstretched ones, listening to Angie tell some outrageous story about her and Spot. She almost laughed thinking of what she looked like. Only in an underskirt and a camisole, lying on two boys on the docks of Brooklyn.   
"And then Spot broke the poor guy's cheek with his stupid cane, and totally cock blocked me!" Angie laughed, finishing her story.   
"And for good reason," Spot muttered. "You's are my girl. Not some prick from Harlem's."  
"Oh stop it Spot. I ain't anybody's property. And if I's was anybody's property it'd be Brooklyn's."  
Katherine smiled as Angie rolled her eyes when he kissed her ear in hope of redemption. It was like seeing a much wilder version of herself and Jack, what it could be if she wasn't raised the way she was. But it didn't matter, he was going to marry her after all. Just saying that in her head made her want to squeal aloud. In a few months or so, she'd be Mrs. Katherine Kelly, free of Pulitzer for the rest of her life. She knew he'd end up moving into her apartment for good, then who knows, they might even have children. She sighed happily, until She felt Jack squeeze middle suddenly, waking her from her reverie.   
"Ace!" He laughed. "I'm talking to ya!"  
"Hm? Sorry." She said.   
He shook his head. "We're gonna get in the water. Did ya wanna come?"  
"The water? Oh, no Jack, you go. I don't think I'd be able to explain to my neighbours why I came home soaking wet. These are my only clothes you know."  
"Your loss." He pulled her off him and Davey and then stood with the other boys, kissing her nose before he walked to the other side of the dock. She laughed as she caught a glimpse of him on the other side, pull his shirt off completely unaware of Spot, who was coming up behind to tackle him into the water. Spot head locked him and they both fell in with a splash.  
"Idiots." Angie muttered, smirking.   
"That's for sure." Replied Katherine. "You'd think they'd learn that after three bottles of ale, their capability to stay a float would not be as strong as they think."  
Angie let out a laugh, sliding back down into her resting position from previously. "So how'd you wind up with Jack Kelly anyhow?"   
Katherine shrugged. "I hated him when I first met him, he was so cocky and obnoxious, and then I got to know him better. He cared so much about his boys in Manhattan, trying to make their jobs better for them with the strike. I guess he kinda grew on me."  
"And don't tell me you didn't go for the face as well."  
"That too." She sighed, raising her brows. "How'd you end up with Spot? I mean, you are together, right?"  
"Yeah, ya could call it that. We's was newsies together as kids, in the same neighbourhood. We both had reputations I guess. I was the only female that we's was aware of in New York selling papes, and he had everyone believe he ruled them." She paused to fiddle with her sunglasses in her lap. "He's good to me though. As much as I tell him I ain't his property, I still like to think that we make a good pair."  
Katherine smiled. "I like it too. When you both are so different, but you can link because you care about each other so much. I mean, I come from a family that practically owns the city and there he is, spending his last few cents trying to buy me flowers after his rounds."  
Angie grinned, and then looked down at Katherine's hand. "So you're gonna marry him?" She saw Katherine's face light in shock, so she rolled her green eyes and took Katherine's hand. "I saw the the rock on ya finger."  
"Is it really that obvious? Maybe I should just put it in my pocket-"  
"Katherine! Don't take it off. It's beautiful and ya should be happy showing it to people."  
Katherine sighed, and began to twist the gold band on her finger. "I wish it were that easy. My parents don't know, and they hate Jack." She laughed sheerly. "God! I don't even know what I'll say to them."  
"Just tell em. They's can't stop you."  
Katherine frowned and looked down at the water. Angie obviously hadn't ever heard the word of blessings. How she was going to get one out of her father, Katherine had no clue.   
A faint ripple surfaced on the dark water in front of them, Jack rising from it. His dark hair was jet black in the wet, which he pushed back off his forehead sloppily. "Hiya." He said, his smile disappearing as he lowered his head down, so Katherine could only see his green eyes. They reflected the deep tinge of blue in water, making them look as if he'd just stuck his fingers in electrical sockets.   
"Hello." She leaned on her knees to kiss his lips lightly. If Angie weren't behind her, she would have been more voluntary to show affection to her boy in the water. But she held her ground. Remembering her manners, Katherine gently pulled back.   
"I was going to go order sandwiches for you and the boys," she smiled while raking a hand through his slick hair. "Did you guys have any preferences?"  
"Katherine that'll be a lot of money." He frowned.   
"I can afford it Jack. Now go ask your boys what they want."   
He sighed, rolled his eyes and turned back to where at least twenty or thirty of the Manhattan boys looked like they were all trying to drown each other. "Hey!" He yelled. "Ace is getting you boys sandwiches, which do you want?"  
The seizing seemed to stop and they all quickly called a string of pastramis and Swiss turkeys.   
"I'll be back in a minute," Katherine called out to them. "Try not to drown each other before you get your lunch."   
"No promises Plums!" She heard Race respond, proceeding to head lock Spec's who was struggling to get out of his grip. Katherine just shook her head and laughed.

Katherine walked with Crutchie to the deli nearby the water. She'd asked Angie to come, but she had wanted to continue sleeping. Crutchie of course couldn't swim with his leg, so he limped on his good leg, with the aid of his crutch, down the boardwalk with Katherine.   
"You have lots of work at your apartment, huh Kathy?" Crutchie frowned beside her.  
Katherine shook her head. "Jack and I are going to do a big cram session tonight. He said we could make a date of it, so I'm ok with it."  
"You getting fettuccini carbonara from Maroni's?" He smiled.  
"How did you know? It's my favourite."  
Crutchie looked to the floor, cheeks red. "I shouldn't tell you but, you're kinda all Jack talks about when we're at the lodging house. If it ain't ya pretty face, intelligence or independency, he yaks on about ya favourite things and how he's gonna buy them for ya when he gets the money."  
Katherine's heart melted on the inside, but she kept it in, exchanging it for a laugh instead. "I'm sorry you guys have to hear about me so much."  
"Nah, it's a lot better than Romeo trying to tell us about his dream girl. Believe me Kathy we'd much rather hear about you."  
They walked to the deli in silence after that, until Crutchie spoke up.  
"He proposed didn't he?" He asked, a glint in his eyes.   
Katherine pushed a lock of her hair behind her ear, smiling slightly. "How'd you know Crutch?"  
"Jack told me he was going to do it, I didn't think he actually would." He let out a breathy laugh. "Ya shoulda seen him try to practice on me though. He's such a sap."  
"It's one of his best assets."   
"Yeah that and seducing reporters who's parents would kill him if they heard word that he's was gonna marry their daughter."  
"I'll tell them, don't worry." She reassured him. "It might just be after the honeymoon."

They returned back to the docks later, arms full with paper bags.   
Katherine waved her arms above her head, and Crutchie helped her call them all in.   
Swimming inland, they hoisted themselves up, until they were one big soaking wet mob, desperate to get their promised lunch.   
She was handing out the pastramis, when Jack came over, his foot long sandwich wedge in his mouth. If he wasn't bare chested and wet, she would have found it cute, but he pulled her to him from behind, and she was cold.   
"Jack!" Katherine squeaked. "You're getting me wet."   
Jack shrugged, taking his sandwich out of his mouth and rested his chin on her shoulder. "You'll drip dry."   
"Hey plums, why ain't you in the water?" Race asked, turkey sandwich in hand as he pointed it at her accusingly.   
Davey, next to him, pushed the sandwich down and frowned at Race. "Leave her alone. Katherine's a lady, Race. And she's gotta stay lady like, and you can't do that swimming in Brooklyn with a bunch of Newsboys."  
Race scowled. "Please, like Plums ever acted like a lady. She hangs with our crowd remember? Besides, I think she's only stayin' dry 'cause she can't paddle to save 'er life."  
Jack narrowed his eyes, pulling Katherine in close to defend her. "Ace can swim. She told me she grew up swimming in Pulitzer's fountain at their house."  
Katherine giggled at the memory. From the age of three, her way of entertainment was the driveway fountain. It was deep and full of goldfish and lilies, perfect for avoiding her nanny who came running to find her before Pulitzer realised his daughter was missing.   
Katherine sighed, she was going to show Race.   
She took out the gold comb that was keeping her hair in place, handing it to Jack. She proceeded to take off her shoes, camisole and skirt, until she stood only in a flimsy bralette and her powder pink satin undershorts. She strode from Jack's arms to the water, smiling smugly.   
If it weren't for her long auburn hair, Katherine would have been uncomfortable standing at the edge of the pontoon in her underwear but it hung underneath her rib cage, covering most of her belly that was exposed. Without a moment to lose, Katherine took a breath and plunged into the water in a somersault. 

The boys stared wide at where Katherine once had been standing. If they thought Jack looked distressed they had another thing coming looking at Race's face.   
"I-I didn't think she'd do it." He murmured. "Oh shit, what the hell have I done?"  
Jack kept looking at the spot still rippling where she had jumped into. It had been a minute since they saw her. "Ya killed Katherine." He murmured. Then he looked at Race directly in the eye and broke the eerie calmness of his tone. "RACE YA KILLED KATHERINE!"  
"Hey, hey. It wasn't me entirely. I mean she did kinda drown herself. It was like suicide, yeah?" He tried to be jovial, as Jack cornered him on the pontoon.   
"Suicide? MY FIANCÉ DIDN'T COMMIT GOD DAMN SUICIDE RACE. YOU MADE HER FEEL BAD AND SHE JUMPED TO PROVE HER POINT."  
The rest of the newsboys eyes lit up in confusion. "Fiancé? Jack and Katherine ain't engaged." Murmured Specs to Spot and Angie. They both looked at each other, not knowing whether or not to let the secret out.   
In that moment, the water below them erupted, as Katherine broke the surface. She caught a breath and grinning, slicked her soaked hair back. "I told you so Race!" She exclaimed. His face drained in relief, for he was not going to be killed by Jack. Jack though bared his teeth in a matching grin to Katherine's and he almost cried.   
"Ace, you stupid, stupid girl." He cried, lifting her torso from the water. He pulled her wet body into his arms where he was on his knees on the planks and squeezed her so hard, she thought she might collapse. "Don't ever scare me like that again."   
"Oh, Jack!" She squeaked. "I'm not dying. Let go of me."  
He refused to, burying his face in her drenched hair. "Stop talking for once, would ya Ace?"

When they had all dried out, they walked to the Brooklyn bridge. They aligned themselves on the railings, sitting next to one another so that their legs dangled off the side.   
Jack had his arm protectively around Katherine's waist, on his guard after the last ordeal. Next to them were Spot and Angie, and on the other side Specs and Race.   
Specs glanced to Katherine and Jack, smirking. " So what's this about fiancés I hear?" He said it loud enough for everyone to hear, and they all called out to agree with Specs.   
Jack sighed, smiling before kissing Katherine's cheek. Now was a better time to tell his boys rather then never. "We're gonna get married." He paused, looking out to the river beneath them. "I don't know when, but we are."   
"So it could be tomorrow we see Kathy in a veil?" Crutchie laughed. "Or in five years when you two finally get a blessing from Pulitzer?"  
"Like hell Pulitzer would agree. Especially if it's Jack asking, he ain't gonna cave in to some broke street ass." Spot said.   
Angie raised her eyebrow at him. "Spot, it takes a great deal for a man to even propose to a girl, Jack at the moment is better than all those other men in high end jobs, who forget their girls even exist."  
"Thanks Ang." Jack chuckled.   
"No worries cowboy." She brushed him off before turning back to Spot. "Besides Spot, maybe ya should take advice from Jack, I mean, it is every girl's dream to be proposed to."  
"You tellin' me to propose to ya Ang?" He raised his voice.  
Katherine expected her to cower, but Angie spat back just as aggravated. "I ain't tellin' ya nothin' Conlon! You'd be too pig headed to listen to me anyway!"  
"Well maybe I'm just too pigheaded to take ya to that jazz club tomorrow night like ya asked me too!"  
"Michael god damn Conlon, you wouldn't dare!"  
"Yeah? Maybe I wou-"   
Katherine tired of the banter, cut in. "Alright! Would you both quit it? You both have plenty of time to discuss your wedding details if there are any, just please keep the peace."   
They both stared back at her, not saying a word, the anger slowly disappearing from their gaze.   
It wasn't until Spot chuckled lowly, that the silence hasted. "Ya got ya self a keeper here Kelly."


	4. Date Night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The date night Jack promised Katherine. Things get nasty.

Katherine and Jack stood arm in arm with paper bags, steaming with hot food containers, at her apartment door.  
"Would you take these please hon?" Katherine passed her bags to Jack, while she fished her keys out of her bra. Jack looked at her and held back a laugh. "Why do girls always keep things in there?"  
She shrugged, opening the door. "Makes it harder for people to steal it."  
"Be pretty easy for me."  
"Watch yourself Kelly."  
When they were inside, she led him to the living room, setting their dinner down on the coffee table.   
"You want me to get your typewriter?" Jack asked.   
"Yes please. Thank you." She kissed his lips softly and he went to her study to receive the beast. This was the date he'd promised her earlier if he'd come with her to Brooklyn. Even if she hadn't come with him, Jack still would have rocked up at her apartment, had dinner and helped her finish her article.   
She saw him come back in with her typewriter, obviously struggling. The thing weigh almost fifteen kilos and was not meant to be transported around.   
"Jack-" she tried to help him.  
"I got it." He let it drop on the table next to the food, his chest heaving, panting.   
She raised the corner of her mouth. "You hot and bothered, Kelly?"  
He bit his lip, and stretched his his arms above his head. "You wish, Plumber."  
She laughed. "Just sit down and eat, would you?"  
They opened the carbonara and the ravioli first, taking one each to eat half of and then swap.   
Katherine was in the middle of sucking a long strand of creamy pasta into her mouth when Jack said, "Hold up."  
"Wha?" She said, trying not to let the pasta fall.  
"Ya look perfect right now. I wanna sketch ya." He took his pad out of his bag next to him as well as a pencil and began to mark quick strokes on the page. Katherine began to protest, but Jack snapped, "Just push that hair behind your ear, and stay still. This could be the greatest sketch I've done of you."  
Katherine frowned and did as she was told. After five minutes or so of furrowed brows and tips of tongues sticking out slightly, Jack gave her the signal that she could move.   
"Are you being serious with me Jack? I sat there with pasta hanging out for five minutes just so you could sketch me?" She asked, chewing finally on the strand.   
He held up the pad to her, showing a rather good sketch. "Yeah but look at it. You don't get that at galleries Ace."  
She giggled, giving in. "It's lovely. Now please let's finish so you can start helping me with my article."  
They cleaned up the boxes well, leaving leftovers for Jack to take to the boys when he came back to the lodging house.   
"Ok let's start." Katherine sighed, setting herself up in front of her typewriter. "What comes to your mind when you think of human trafficking?"  
"Confusion. What the hell is human trafficking, Ace?"   
"Uh, ok. Brace yourself for this one. It's the illegal trade of another's body."  
" How?"  
She knitted her brows, trying to think of a way to explain. "Like it could be selling slaves. Or, uh, more physical like organ theft." She cleared her throat. "I'm writing on this circle in upper west side that's responsible for a whole lot of people going missing. They were found a week later dead and missing their kidneys, their hearts and lungs."  
Jack grimaced. "That's honestly disgusting. Please don't tell me you're interviewing this circle, Ace."  
She didn't respond, and Jack took the hint. She most definitely was. "Katherine! Doesn't that scare you? These people can get your name and track you down, you'd be their next target." He laced her hands in his. "I don't like it when you put yourself in danger at work."  
She rolled her eyes, and cupped her palms around his jaw. "Jack, sweetheart, I love you. I'm not putting myself at risk. Darcy is coming with me to interview them at the city prison on Tuesday. I won't be alone if they try anything." Katherine kissed his lips reassuringly. His heart broke a little when she pulled away, but let her never the less for he knew she had to keep working.  
They worked on the bulk of it for the next hour, Katherine speaking her ideas and Jack saying whether not he liked it.   
"The families of the victims are scarred by this horrible ordeal of events and are demanding justice to be served upon this group of criminals. Interviews with the circle will be released in the next issue of the Sun." She read aloud her last sentence and looked up to Jack. He had his chin in his fists and looked blank. "It's done honey. I'm now all yours for tonight."  
"It's good." Jack said. "Good enough to get you to bed." He picked her up bridal style and took her to the bedroom. Tucking her under the satin duvet, Jack kissed her forehead and murmured a goodnight.   
"Wait, where are you going?" Katherine asked, panicking as he turned on his heel to leave.   
He ruffled the back of his head. "I gotta be up at the crack of dawn tomorrow Katherine."  
"But you always sleep over on date nights."   
He saw the hurt in her eyes, like she was a lost puppy. "I guess I'm just not up to it."  
She pulled the cover off her and got on her knees. "Jack just come over here."  
He hesitantly sat on the edge of the queen sized bed, but kept his attention on his hands in his lap.  
"What's the matter, Jack? Did I do something wrong?" She asked softly.  
He shook his head. "You're just worrying me. I want to see you safe all the time, but I can't." He finally looked up at her. "Do you know how much it would kill me if you got hurt. And what for? The sake of a damn article your boss might not even use."  
"Jack, this is my job. It's risky. But I'm a big girl, I can look after myself ok?" She replied before taking his arm and pulling him down next to her.   
She lie face to face with him and shuffled in closer so their bodies fit like jigsaw puddles. "I'm intelligent enough to see danger when it's right in front of me Jack."  
He said nothing but only pulled her leg over his hip and wrapped his strong arm around her waist.   
She heard him sigh. "And Darcy's going to be with you?"  
Katherine grinned, knowing that she'd won. "The whole time."  
"Ok." Jack smiled slightly and ran his fingers through her hair. "You got the all clear from me."  
"I was going to go even if I didn't get the all clear from you."  
"Yeah, Ace, I know."  
She giggled and filled in the space between them. Her lips tasted sweet to him, like she'd smothered them in honey. He smiled at the thought, Katherine feeling it as he did so. After a while of soft, tender kisses, Jack felt her getting tired of the repetitive play. He let her roll on top of him, so she sat on his hips and buried her fingers in his hair. The kisses this time were more urgent, but she still kept the slow pace.   
"Katherine," he breathed. "You're tired, we don't gotta do this now."  
She shook her head, and continued to press kisses along his jaw. "I want to."  
Jack sighed and raised his hands to the hem of her blouse, lifting it off her body. She took the liberty herself to guide his hands next to unclasp her bra, letting it fall to the floor to find the next morning. She even took his palms to press against her breasts, which Jack took control of quickly.   
Palming one of them, he took the other and began placing small kisses on her peak. He practically grinned when he heard her moan, it vibrating slightly in her chest.   
"Mm. Jack." She gasped as she felt him softly bite the skin, not hard enough to draw blood, but enough to leave a mark.   
Katherine found herself trying to button his shirt, but realised she was getting know where while he was paying so much attention to her breasts. She gave him a gentle shove and picked back up where she started on the buttons.  
Katherine knew that Jack was muscular, she always had. One time when they had just met, his shirt had drooped low enough for her to see his well define chest and torso, gained by years of carrying heavy newspaper bundles. It wasn't until they had first undressed one another in her apartment had she been able to confirm that she wasn't seeing things.   
His build still took her by surprise even then though as Katherine ran her fingers down his flesh. Jack's arms were so big and strong, yet were always gentle with her.   
"Good view?" Jack murmured to her, snickering.   
Katherine whacked his chest playfully. "You keep making fun of me and I'll stop."  
He raised his hands in surrender and Katherine leant back down to continue travelling kisses.  
When she reached just above his belt, Katherine eagerly undid it and began to pull the dark grey pants off him. Her fingertips brushed the bulge see could see slightly in his underwear, producing a husky growl from where he was back resting up against the pillows. She glanced up at him before tugging at the waistband and taking them off him.   
In her fingers he was already hard, but that didn't mean she didn't have to try.   
She began running her hand along his length, earning several encouraging throaty groans that signalled Katherine to keep going.   
When she took his tip in her mouth, Jack's breath hitched. He buried his fingers in her buttery hair, feeling as if he were melting away. After several minutes of her blows, Jack felt himself getting close.   
"Ace, baby, stop." He grunted.   
She got the idea and pulled herself off him. He raised himself off the silk pillows and gently took hold of Katherine's waist, guiding her down to where he had been lying.   
"You're walls are sound proof aren't they?" Jack asked quietly, unzipping her skirt.   
Her jaw dropped and she helped kick off the magenta taffeta. "Probably not. But I haven't been getting any complaints yet."   
He leaned in close, the elastic of her panties in his firm grip, and planted a kiss on her sternum as he slid them down her long legs.   
When she felt his tip brush against her entrance, Katherine gave him a reassuring nod to keep going.

It was a feeling the two of them could never get used to. The way that Katherine would bury her head in the crook of Jack's neck, and how he would place his large hands just under her breasts, ever so gently. Without the little touches and caresses, it would end up drab and boring, like the way her friend Clara described her first time to her when they were sixteen.   
"He was attractive," Clara had said, sitting on Katherine's bed one night in her bedroom back at the Pulitzer house. "You could say that."  
"Yeah, but was he," Katherine struggled to find the words that didn't make her sound uncouth. "Good?"  
Clara giggled, clutching her stomach and shaking her head. "Oh, Katherine, it was terrible! Before I could even relish the moment, he was spent and said he had to go back and finish work at his office. But you know what was the worst?"  
Katherine knitted her brows together, wondering how it could possibly be worse. "What?"  
"He didn't even have an office job!"

Katherine almost laughed at the memory, but was too overwhelmed by Jack's slow thrusts to even give it a second thought.  
"Jack," she sighed, digging her nails slightly into his shoulder blades. "Faster."  
He obeyed, picking up the pace to the point that he was afraid their loud moaning would wake Katherine's neighbours.   
Jack brought a hand to her clitoris, rubbing as he moved in and out of her. This additional touch drove Katherine wild, her legs wrapping round his hips, and causing her to sink her teeth into his shoulder.  
"Katherine!" He winced, knowing that their would be a mark the next morning. Another mark for the boys to ask questions and snigger about.   
"Sorry." She apologised airily.   
After several more thrust Katherine found her stomach in a knot, signalling she was close. She could tell Jack was too, by the way he had increased the intensity of his poundings. Once gentle and slow, they had become ragged and desperate.   
"Oh, Jack," she breathed, finding her walls clench around him. Yelping, Katherine found herself climaxing to several waves of pleasure sweep over her.   
He came only shortly after, collapsing into heap onto her. Kissing the spot behind her ear, Jack sighed. "You're incredible."  
Katherine beamed silently and buried her face deeper into the crook of his neck. Jack rolled her over, so her face was inches from his, but their limbs still tangled together.   
"Katherine Pulitzer, you never cease to amaze me." Jack whispered.  
"I don't intend to stop," she pressed her lips against his.  
"But ya know I'd just wish you'd be more careful in what'cha throw yourself into." He said it against her skin as a plea. Katherine rolled her eyes, knowing he was talking about the interview.   
"Jack," she scowled. "I'm careful ok? Would you stop being so overprotective?"  
"Katherine, I think it's my right to make sure you don't end up hurt." He retorted, before whispering to himself, "you don't seem to care about your wellbeing enough."  
"What was that?"  
"Nothing."  
She propped herself up on her elbow and furrowed her brows. "Look, I've told you this before; I'm a professional at my job and have to do what is asked of me by my boss. End of story."  
"Oh, and if your boss bent you down over his desk and went at it, you'd think that's ok too?" He snapped, anger starting to broil in his tone.   
"I think I'd have the integrity to say no! This story isn't about me Jack, it's about others who have suffered from these attacks."  
Jack had sat himself up as well, the once happy scene of their post love making gone. "Well maybe ya should go then Katherine. Go and dig around so hard that you end up far too damaged to be repaired." She saw a glint in his eye, and he roared with rage, "And don't come cryin' to me when you's been abducted into some place to be raped and brutally killed!"

Tears started to fall down Katherine's cheeks and she dabbed them away before getting out of bed to walk to her dresser. She yanked the top draw open and started to look for clothing.  
"What'cha doin' now?" He called bitterly back from the bed.   
"I'm going for a walk." She sniffled. Pulling a dress over her and grabbing her coat, Katherine stormed out of the bedroom. "Don't follow me."  
"Yeah I'll just stay in your own apartment." He yelled, "Take your God damn time Katherine!"  
He heard the front door slam and cursed under his breath.


	5. Lost and Found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Continuum of the previous chapter. Katherine is lost, Jack needs to find her.

KATHERINE  
The cold air nipped against Katherine's cheeks, making her pull her coat tighter against her body. Although Summer in New York, the nights were still cold and unwelcoming.   
She thought back to what had just happened back at her apartment and tears threatened to fall again.   
"Stupid jackass," she muttered. "And his stupid ego."   
Katherine didn't know where she was walking to, but kept up the brisk pace even though her heels had started to ache. Bending down, she slipped her foot out of her stiletto and rubbed it tenderly.   
"You right there miss?" A voice echoed behind her.   
She spun around, almost tripping over, to see two men side by side. The petty excuse of a moustache and bowler hat were familiar and she immediately recognised their faces.  
"Morris and Oscar Delancey." She said, her voice clearly displaying her disliking to the brothers.  
"Would you look here Morris? It's Kelly's girl. Now tell me, what do you think she's doing on the streets this late at night? And all by herself?" Oscar smirked. She pierced her eyes at him, seeing his own scan her body all over.  
Morris caught his glare on her chest, where the drooping fabric failed to cover her bust. "I don't know Oscar, but it sure would be bad if something happened to her. I mean, like you said, she's all alone."  
"Get away from me." Katherine growled.   
They both advanced further, where she found her back pressed up the bricks of the near wall.   
Oscar placed a rough hand on her waist. "Oh come on, sugar, you look upset! Why don't you come with us, huh?"  
"Leave me alone!" She cried, raising a hand to strike his face.  
The easy going demeanour washed away, revealing rage instead. Katherine tried to escape when he pulled her arms behind her back sharply, but was defeated by his strong grip. "You fucking bitch!" He growled.  
Morris shook his head. "You done it know girl. We both know Oscar doesn't like a lady who speaks her mind."  
Katherine, still struggling, was thrown to the floor. Oscar pinned her down with his hips and seized her by the shoulders. He chuckled lowly, bringing his face to hers. "Oh the things I'd like to do to you miss Pulitzer."  
She waited for him to do something but was saved by Morris, who knocked him on the head. "Hey, not yet. Boss said we can't have her till he's done."  
Oscar rolled his eyes and backed up a little. "Looks like we's gonna have to wait to have our fun, doll face."  
With that, he raised a fist and brought it down to her temple, knocking Katherine out cold.

JACK  
"Any o' you see Katherine walk through here?" Jack called to the mass of Newsies as they sat on the staircase of the lodging house, eating their breakfast and surveying the day's headlines.   
Davey furrowed his brow. "No, have you lost her?"  
"Yeah, she said she was going for a walk last night and didn't show back up later." He replied.  
"Why'd she go walkin'?" Crutchie asked, folding his newspaper close.  
Jack sank his teeth into his lower lip and sat down next to him. "We got into a fight. I guess she just wanted to cool off. I went to bed thinking she'd come back, but she still wasn't there when I woke up this morning."  
"I'm sorry Jack, but we ain't seen her. Maybe she's at her dad's office."  
Jack smiled a little and shook his head. "Like hell she would. That would be the last place Katherine would go."  
Davey rolled his eyes. "You could at least try there. I know Pulitzer ain't our favourite person, but his daughter is. Do it for Katherine."  
"You talkin' like she's dead." He said lowly.  
"I didn't say that Jack." Retorted Davey, getting up off the stairs. "Come on, I'll come with you."

The two boys stood outside Pulitzer's office timidly, hands in pockets and eagerness in their eyes. They had gotten past Hannah at the reception, claiming they were there to give important news, which she had believed reluctantly. However the idea of how to break the news to Pulitzer was still waiting to occur to Jack.  
There was a clearing of a throat behind the heavy mahogany doors proceeding by Pulitzer calling lowly, "Come in."  
" Hi, Mr. Pulitzer sir." Davey smiled. He wasn't the one who had been recently shunned at Pulitzer's dinner table therefore was the one to call the greeting.  
"It's David isn't it?" Pulitzer looked up from his glasses.   
"Yes sir."  
"Then please tell me David, why Jack Kelly is in my office. I thought the last time we met made it clear; that that would be the last time we met."  
"Please Mr. Pulitzer." Jack said, ignorant to the man before him and his problems. "It's important."  
He sighed. "Go on then."  
"We's were just wonderin' if you'd seen Katherine walk through here at all."  
Hearing his daughter's name, he stopped what he was doing, suddenly intrigued. "She hasn't been here. She never is. Why?"  
Jack went blank. He couldn't explain to Katherine's father that she was missing because he had upset her. He also couldn't mention that he had been sleeping in her bed when woke to find her gone. So Jack settled for the next most logical answer. "Katherine went walking last night." It was true, but didn't mention the fact that it was brought on by their argument.  
"Yes. She often does when she's stressed. What's so different about that?" Pulitzer said.  
"Well ya see sir, Katherine didn't come back. And We's didn't see her this morning. I'm scared something happened to her."  
Pulitzer didn't reply, but looked only at a frame on his desk solemnly. Jack faintly saw a small girl on a smiling Pulitzer's shoulders, who looked no older than four. The cheeks and eyes gave it away that it was Katherine, caught in a snapshot of rare happiness with her father. "I'll help you look." He said finally.  
"Where do we start?" Asked Davey.  
Pulitzer picked up the black telephone from the corner of his desk and began dialling numbers. "I'll make some phone calls. You two go back out on the street and keep looking."  
Jack nodded. "We'll come back if we find her."

KATHERINE  
When she awoke, all Katherine could feel was the harsh cool concrete on her cheek. She tried focusing on the room she was in, but her vision was blurry and distorted. The only thing that really stood out were the ugly cracked cream walls towering around her.  
Katherine wasn't certain of what had happened, and why she wasn't home. It only came rolling back to her when she sat up slowly, her temple pounding. She'd been approached by the Delanceys and knocked out by Oscar when she tried to get away.   
In the room, there were no windows, no where she could cry out for help. There was a lone iron framed bed that contained a bare mattress. At least she wouldn't die on the floor.   
But where she was, was the question she kept asking herself.   
The was a jingle of keys from behind her, where a red painted door stood. It creaked open, and she watched Oscar Delancey walk through, a smug look on his face. "Afternoon sweetness." He locked the door behind him, leaning against it as he watched Katherine struggle on the floor.  
"What did you do to me?" She slurred, and found her bearings when she sat on her knees.   
He pulled a capped syringe out of his jacket, before twirling it round in his fingers. "Nifty stuff ain't it, Morphine? I almost gave myself a shot. But the amount I gave you? Nah, that'd send me over the edge." He got down on his knees in front of her and pushed a tendril of hair behind her ear. "Kinda like you have, huh?"  
"Where am I? Why the hell are you doing this?" She demanded, feeling tears pool in her eyes.  
"The children's refuge of New York. It's a real good place to lie low now that it's abandoned. And don't blame me doll face, I ain't the one in charge. Morris and I only got into this for the money, no hard feelings."  
Katherine wanted to scream. But Jack had told her about the Refuge, their walls were so thickly bricked that even if you screamed at the top of your lungs, no one outside could hear you. She then thought about Jack. Had he realised she was missing yet? God how she missed him despite her frustration with him that had caused this whole mess.   
She silenced her reverie and looked back at Oscar. "Tell me who's in charge."  
"Give you a hint, baby. Your boy back home won't be too pleased to find out that he's out of jail and turned to murder."  
"Snyder." She mouthed, mortified.   
"Lucky guess." Oscar looked around the room. "Now if you wanted to extend your days just that bit more, you could do me a favour."  
Katherine snarled. "I'd rather die than commit to your sick perverted suggestions."  
He reached into his pocket, mouth straight, and pulled out what looked like brass knuckles. He slipped them on his right fingers, rolling up his sleeve. "We've been through this last night, doll face. You don't respect me and I gotta teach you a good lesson."  
The first blow hit Katherine's jaw, which she screamed in pain, clutching it tightly. The second hit her throat, winding her as she doubled over onto her stomach. Oscar took this as an advantage to climb on her hips and rip her coat off her back.   
With her chin on the concrete, she heard the rip of her dress being torn down the middle. In an instant her back was bare, and the scraps of the dress were being shimmied off her body. She thanked God that she had thought to put on undergarments last night. They weren't much, but they were keeping a barrier between her body and Oscar's prying eyes.   
"Stay still!" He ordered when Katherine had tried to shuffle away. Scared, she obeyed and clenched her teeth through several more beatings on her back and thighs.   
He finally stopped, chuckling to himself. "You know what doll face? I bet your boy ain't even gonna see these on your back. Maybe we'll give Jack a little something more obvious to focus on when he sees your body for the last time."   
Was he implying her death? In all honesty, Katherine had seen it coming. Nobody got abducted and walked away harm free. But never the less the fact still scared the living hell out of her.  
Oscar rolled her over, regaining his place back on her hips. He yanked on the underwire of her brassiere, exposing her chest.  
"Please," Katherine whimpered.   
"Shut it." His hands roughly placed themselves on her breasts, before he raised one of them. The impact of his brass knuckles on Katherine's tender chest was so hard, she felt like she had just been hit by a baseball bat. She knew there would definitely be bruises later. He continued, in patches, until her whole chest ached.   
"That'll teach you." He spat, leering above her. He dismounted her, and turned for the door. "Don't try anything stupid doll face. Things won't be pretty."

JACK   
Davey and Jack had spent the day looking, going as far as Brooklyn to find where Katherine was. It was dusk when they walked into the Brooklyn lodging house, where numerous newsies loitered, coming back from their daily rounds.  
"Hey, Tasty," Jack said, confronting the skinny boy on the stairs who was in the middle of licking a jam jar clean. "You seen my girl, Katherine around here?"  
He brought the sticky jar away from his mouth and frowned. "Sorry Jackie, I ain't seen her."  
"Thanks anyway Taste. You know where I can find Spot?"  
Tasty pointed up the wooden staircase. "Think he's in his room. You know where it is."  
"Thanks. Enjoy your jam kid." Jack lead Davey where they had been directed, finding themselves in a long hall aligned with cheap wooden doors. Unlike Manhattan, Brooklyn's living areas were more closed off to one another. Jack stopped at the last door, where he knocked three times impatiently.   
"Who is it?" Spot called from behind the door.   
"Jack and Davey." Replied Jack.  
There was a sigh and a loud thump like something heavy behind hit on the floor, which was followed by a screech.  
"Aight Jack. You can come in."  
They came through the door, where a swollen lipped, bed headed Spot sat on the double bed. On the floor was Angie, picking herself up and looking pissed. "Try next time to not throw me on the timber Conlon." She muttered, rubbing her lower back. It was obvious they had been interrupted, but quite frankly Jack didn't care, he needed to find Katherine.   
"Thought'yd drop by Kelly?" Spot smirked.   
"Spot ya gotta help me. Katherine's gone missing." Jack pleaded, Davey backing behind him.   
"Missing? Like how missing?"  
"Like missing as in we've looked all over New York and not one person has seen her."  
Angie, who had sat herself practically on Spot's lap frowned. "Jack, I don't wanna be rude, but, maybe Katherine doesn't want to be found."  
Jack pulled a face. "What the hell do ya mean. Of course she would wanna be found."  
"I mean, maybe she realised that marrying you wasn't the best she could do. Maybe she's looking for something else."  
" Shut up Ang, that's bullshit. She ain't run away. I know Ace and she don't run away from things." Jack was bitter, but inside a part of him died hearing Angie's words. Could she be right? He wasn't exactly husband material. And Katherine did deserve better, not some street rat who couldn't even afford a place of his own.   
"Look we've literally checked the whole city for her," Davey cut in. "Her father even put out phone calls to the police. We've never seen him like this."  
Spot raised his eyebrows. "So bad, Pulitzer had to take a break from his work. Damn, this gotta be serious."   
"I just want her back." Jack murmured. Davey was scared he was going to start crying, something he'd never seen before. Jack collected himself though, rubbing his face in his hands.   
Angie came over and put her arms around him affectionately. "Hey, we'll find her. Spot and I's will help ya too, ok?"  
"Yeah, we'll follow ya back home, Jackie. Kathy couldn't have gone far." Spot reassured. Jack wasn't so sure though. 

KATHERINE

It had been almost two days in the room, in which Katherine hadn't eaten at all. Her stomach, a persistent grumbling reminder, churned for what could have been the hundredth time that evening.  
It wasn't as if the Delanceys hadn't tried to force feed bread down her throat, which Katherine had bit their fingers in defence. She wasn't going to satisfy them by giving in.   
There was a creak of the door and Katherine watched Oscar walk in, followed by someone who wasn't Morris. The silver hair and tall, unnatural statue resembled none other than Snyder. Katherine shuffled back to the peeled walls quickly, fear flooding through her body. This was the man who really was the reason she was here in the refuge, and she knew he had a purpose for it.  
"Get away from me!" Katherine pleaded frantically.  
"Calm down sweet cheeks, Snyder here ain't wanna hurt ya." Oscar paused before chuckling. "Yet."  
Snyder lifted his thin mouth slightly, and advanced towards Katherine. He knelt down to get on her level and raked bony fingers through her dishevelled hair. "Little Katherine. I remember when you were just a young thing. Your father would bring you and your brother to the office and have you draw on the papers while he had meetings with myself and the others. My have you grown up."  
She squeezed her eyes shut. "Please, just let me go."  
"I couldn't do that now, Katherine. Not when Jack Kelly is still alive and breathing."  
Her eyelids fluttered open. "So this is to get back at him, for getting you thrown in prison."  
He smirked. "Your father too. He did nothing but watch as they took me away. I figured why not kill two birds with one stone and take something they both cared about dearly."  
Katherine's heart sank. Her father, even though they had spoken last on a bad note, was probably distraught. There was nothing Joseph Pulitzer hated more than people taking what was his, especially if it was his own blood and flesh.   
"Then what about the others, the others you killed? You took their organs and left them for dead." She questioned.   
"They say prison makes you mad my dear. That you are a different man when you escape. I guess those people were just the damage of a bad storm starting to brew."  
Her voice hitched in her throat, growing heavy as she started to sob. "And now you're going to kill me."  
"That's right. But not now. Now I just want to give a preview." He smiled coldly and signalled Oscar to come grab her legs while he held her arms. They hoisted her body onto the bed in the other corner, where she lay limply.  
Out of the corner of her eye, she watched Snyder pull a steel knife, from his coat. It looked dull and blunt, like he had used it numerous times before. Her body was yanked roughly by Oscar's firm hands so that she lay flat on her back.   
"Now stay still you beautiful thing-" Katherine disobeyed and tried to make a run for it. Snyder however, reacted quickly and plunged the knife into her belly. She let out a blood curdling scream, unable to move as she clutched the quickly scarlet soaking wound above her left hip.   
Snyder clenched his teeth, his eyes lit with rage as he yanked the knife out, making Katherine scream a second time. Her limbs fell limp and she collapsed, overwhelmed by the searing pain.   
"I said don't move you brat." Snyder sneered, and struck her cheek with his fist. They proceeded to give her another shot of morphine in her neck, which made her perception blurry.  
When they finally left, Katherine, drowsily found her dress on the floor, ripping a strip off. She folded the remains into a pad, placing it on the wound, before using the strip to hold it in place. It was hardly sufficient, and messy from her lack of coordination, but was all she could do for the time being to stop the bleeding.   
It hurt, but Katherine ignored the pain. If she was going to get out of the refuge, she needed to be strong. Jack needed her to be strong. 

JACK  
Three days had been counted since Katherine went missing. The police had finally gotten involved, their men out on the banks of the Hudson wading through water till night fall. When Jack had asked why the Hudson, they solemnly explained that it was a possibility that Katherine was dumped somewhere, that being in the muddy banks of the river. He had prayed silently that this wasn't the case.  
As well as this, the newsboys had also dropped their selling spots and papes to go and look for her. Race, Specs, Crutchie, Finch and Albert had stayed in central Manhattan streets while Romeo, Les, Smalls, and Sniper checked out Central Park. The rest of the boys flooded either Battery Park, Grand Central Station or the stretch of publishing houses that she worked around. A few of the younger boys stayed back at the lodging house, to make sure if she came back, someone one would be there.   
Davey, Spot, Angie and Jack had just come back from Katherine's apartment, where they had scoured for any hints to where she might be. There wasn't anything, just little perfume bottles and jewellery that Jack had taken for his own sake.   
They were walking back to the refuge, calling it a day, when Jack stopped to look at a building.  
With his fists in his pockets, he gazed up at the destroyed, abandoned house. It's smashed windows had been boarded up and the bricks had begun to crumble in places. The Children's Refuge of New York. Even defaced, Jack could feel the sadness in the air that it brought upon, as fresh as when he was last locked in there.   
"Jack?" Davey stopped too, standing behind him.  
"Sorry," he said quietly. "I've just never seen it like this."  
Angie linked her arm with Spot's and walked over too. "It's not even been a full year since it got shut down. The place's a mess." She said.  
Spot frowned and looked up at a window, that had been draped from the inside with black curtains. He'd never seen them before. "Jack?" He asked softly.  
Jack looked back at him, brows knitted. "What is it Spot?"  
"We didn't check this place, did we?"  
Hope gleamed in Jack's eyes and he walked quickly up to the door. The rest followed as he creaked open the heavy red door and descended into the dark front hall.   
If someone had been occupying the space, they weren't concerned for its appearance. Cobwebs and dust aligned almost ever surface and furniture had been knocked over. They took the stairs to the second floor, trying their hardest to be silent. For all they knew, that occupant could still be there.   
They scanned every level, splitting to check every door. When they reached the top level, they had almost given up hope.   
While Jack was in the first few rooms with Davey, he heard what could only be a cry from Angie and a stressed, "Jack, Davey!" From Spot in the last room.   
Jack rushed to where they were under the door frame, and almost sank to the floor when he saw her.  
Lying in a heap was Katherine, her clothing nowhere to be found, only in her undergarments. Her hair, a teased and tangled chocolate mess covered her face as she lay still, face down on the concrete.  
"Oh god," Jack breathed and flew down to where she lay.  
"Ace!" He cried, pulling her up into his arms. He saw her face and felt sick, she was thin and pale like the dead. "Ace, honey, please, it's Jack!"  
Her sunken eyes began to flutter, and Jack's heart hitched. "Jack?" She croaked.  
"Yeah Katherine, it's me. I got you."  
The other three stood at the door, not saying anything until Jack looked back at them. "Why is she so out of it?" He asked.  
Angie came over, taking Katherine's head in her lap. She pulled her eyes wider open gently and her lips contracted into a thin line. "She's been drugged up on morphine, a lot of it too. I'm surprised she's responding at all."  
"Morphine?" Spot raised his voice.  
"You need to go," they heard Katherine mutter deliriously. "They're going to come back."  
"Who's gonna come back?" Jack ran a hand through her hair, detangling some of the knots.   
"Snyder, the Delanceys."  
Jack's blood boiled. It could have been anyone in New York, but it ended up being those three.  
He took a breath and said, "Katherine, we're gettin' you outa here ok?" Before picking her up in his arms. She yelped as he did so, and began to cry. Jack noticed the bandaged wound on her belly and apologised. "Sweetheart, can you tell me what happened?"  
"He stabbed me," she sobbed. "Snyder stabbed me."  
"Jack, if she got stabbed she's probably lost a whole lotta blood already." Davey murmured to him. "She needs medical attention."  
"Ok, ok. Come on Ace, we're going."  
As he turned to head out, the group heard footsteps coming from the stairs.  
"Shit!" Hissed Spot. "Someone's here!"   
They froze, unknowing where to turn until Jack caught eye of the window.   
"You guys go first and I'll come down the pipe with Katherine." He ushered them out, one by one, first Angie, then Spot and finally Davey. They were on the ground when Jack hoisted his leg over the frame. He was about to pull the other one over when he heard a tongue clicking behind him.  
"If it isn't Jack Kelly." It was Snyder, next to him Oscar and Morris. "I'll have you know that you can't go taking other people's property. It's called theft, and I know you're very familiar with that."  
"She ain't yours!" Jack growled.   
"Well I don't see why she'd be yours. You aren't anything to her, she doesn't need you." As much as he hated to, Jack realised Snyder spoke the truth. Without him, Katherine would keep going, she wasn't relying on him for funds or shelter. He couldn't even tell if she'd said yes to marrying him because she wanted to, or because she was just kind.  
"Why'd you take her?" Jack demanded finally. "She ain't done nothing to ya."  
"Ah, but you have. You and Pulitzer. I needed a way to make you both suffer, so beautiful little Katherine was the solution. And I can't let you take her from me now." Snyder paused. "Oscar, Morris, as you will."  
The two brothers grinned wickedly, slipping on two pairs of brass knuckles each.   
Jack, still holding Katherine, backed up slowly. There was no way out, he couldn't go through the window and the door was blocked by Snyder. So he shielded Katherine's frail body as best as he could and waited for the blows to come.   
However they didn't come, for Jack heard what sounded like a mob rioting up the stairs. The Delanceys must have heard it too, for they craned their neck to see what the commotion was.   
Crutchie stood at the door, playing the leader of the group, which had to be at least thirty newsies.   
"Let's soak em for Kathy!" He roared, and the boys behind him flooded the room.  
Fists, feet and crutches were all a blur, hitting and tackling Snyder and the Delanceys.   
"What's happening?" Katherine whispered to Jack.   
Jack laughed lightly and shook his head, "I have no clue Ace."  
They watched Snyder fall unconscious to the floor after Crutchie had butchered his skull with his crutch. The Delanceys however were still fighting.  
There was a cry of pain when Romeo and Race both jumped on Morris, for Race fell to the ground clutching his arm where Morris had bent it. It was bent at an odd angle and bone had jutted out where it shouldn't on his forearm. Romeo finished him off with a fist to the nose, before rushing down to Race.   
"Race, buddy, can ya see how many fingers I'm holdin' up?" Romeo cried.  
With his good arm, Race swatted him away. "Ya idiot, my arms broken, I'm not seeing a bright light or nothin. Go and help the boys finish off Oscar."  
Oscar was having his head smashed repeatedly on the wall by Finch, Albert, Specs and Sniper. Smalls was behind them, yelling strings of abuse.  
His head had started to bleed and become a porridge like consistency as it was split open. With a final thrust, the boys had managed to get Oscar unconscious. 

"Is everybody holding up ok?" There were two police officers at the door, bats in arm as they stood in front of Angie, Spot and Davey. They must have called them outside and came back up the stairs.   
Race was propped up on the floor his arm, throbbing. "We's all good sir. We took care a this one. But I think ya should maybe deposit them in a higher security prison, cause that Snyder just escaped the last one."

 

It was three days later when Katherine woke up properly. They had taken her immediately home and Darcy, who had been on the search for Katherine, dialled on Clara, her best friend. She had just become a qualified nurse and was needed to assist her injuries. She would survive, but the morphine and trauma had taken so much effect on her, that they let her wake when she needed to.

Jack was seated beside her bed, holding her hand, when she began to stir.   
"Jack," she said softly, yawning.   
He beamed and kissed her forehead, wary of the large bruise accumulating her temple. "Good mornin' sleepin' beauty."  
Katherine giggled and squeezed his hand. "I was dreaming."  
"About?"  
"You."  
"What I do?"  
She smiled and motioned him to kiss her. "You finally married me, bought a house on the upper east side, got a cat and got me pregnant."  
"Yeah, you's were dreaming."  
Katherine frowned, offended but was reassured when Jack offered, "I mean, a house on Upper East, honey? I can't afford that."  
She swatted his arm and he laughed.   
"There's no interview to worry about now, Jack." She sighed.  
"No?"  
She shook her head. "Those people were framed, alibis for Snyder."  
Jack nodded. "Did you want a glass of water?"  
"I want you in bed with me." Katherine pulled the covers down slightly and pulled him down next to her on the mattress.   
Being careful of the bandaged wound on her belly, which had been stitched up by Clara, Jack wrapped his limbs around Katherine.   
"I'm so glad we found you." He sighed into her neck.  
"I'm just happy they threw those three back in prison." She kissed his shoulder. "And I'm happy I'm back home with you."


End file.
